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Geriatrician

One of the realities of life is that at some point a person also grows old. And, an individual also becomes more susceptible to diseases as he or she ages. The service of a medical specialist for this age group becomes useful especially when an aged person starts to manifest symptoms of health conditions that greatly influence older individuals.

Definition

The subspecialty of internal medicine that is dedicated to dealing with the health of elderly individuals is called geriatrics. This should not be confused with another branch of medical science that is also associated with this age group. Geriatrics concentrates on providing aged people with the most excellent health care while gerontology leans more on the study of the aging process. But then, there is still a very big link between the two fields since geriatrics is sometimes referred to as the medical gerontology.

Geriatricians are medical professionals who have chosen to specialize in this side of internal medicine. Their expertise is directed towards upholding the health of the older individuals. In addition, they diagnose and treat disabilities and disorders that affect the older persons. Aside from managing diseases, they also find ways in order to prevent the occurrence of diseases among the members of this age group.

Types of Patients

Geriatricians cater the elderly people but there is actually no exact age when a person can start seeking a consult with these professionals. On the other hand, a person can decide whether to visit a geriatrician or not based on his or her needs and the accessibility of such kind of specialist.

Geriatricians treat almost all types of diseases that hit the aged ones. Common elderly conditions that are managed by these medical professionals are arthritis, dementia, Parkinson's disease, adult onset diabetes mellitus, and hypertension.

Subspecialty

There are certain conditions that are very common among the elderly people but do not present in individuals at an early age. Some of these known problems are dementia, falls, and delirium. In order to have a more specific care among the aged persons, some subspecialties in geriatrics emerged.

Specializations under geriatrics are divided into two categories, which are the medical and surgical. Among the medical geriatric subspecialties are psychogeriatrics, cardiogeriatrics, geriatric nephrology, and geriatric oncology. Areas included in the group of surgical subspecialties are geriatric urology, geriatric otolaryngology, geriatric trauma, and geriatric general surgery.